Superpower ideas?

[snabjorn]

Good evening

I am working on something atm, and I need all the superpowers I can get, and I was hoping you guys could maybe help me

Are there some superpowers/magical powers/whatever you find especially awesome? Or maybe some superpowers that you would love to see, that hasn't been "created" yet, or something along those lines? Last mentioned would have to be something that would be o.k. for me to (possibly) use ofc.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

There's a wiki called Superpowers Wiki--just google it--that has pretty much every super power that's ever been thought of. Go there. You'll get a ton of ideas.

 

[Boiled Water]

I think the most interesting powers are ones that come at a cost. Your strength is increased but you lose control of your anger. You can control people's minds but you feel all their pain. You have laser vision but temporarily lose eyesight. Uninteresting powers combined with consequences can make for creative and interesting ideas.

 

[Queshire]

Dang, Dragon already suggested what I was going to do, though I was going to add suggesting hitting the random button. Here's the link to the wiki in question; Superpower Wiki - Wikia

For more specific ideas..... Are you looking for teams or individuals?

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I'm writing a fantasy story in which the magic system is based around the concept of superpowers, but I can't exactly share my ideas, since I'm using them myself.

 

[La Volpe]

Sanderson's second law of magic (which applies to superpowers too, I would say): Limitations > Powers.

With things like Heroes and the X-Men, there isn't much of a chance that you'll get an interesting power that hasn't been used yet. But by limiting it, you're making it unique and interesting.

As an example, from Sanderson's own work: Steel pushing and Iron pulling from the Mistborn novels.
The basic power here is telekinesis, but is limited like this:
- Works on metals only
- Only pushes and pulls directly from or to the user's centre mass
- The user's mass is pitted against the object being moved; so if the user is lighter than the object being pushed, the user moves, not the object.

Now, with those limitations in place, you have a whole new ability.

 

[Queshire]

Sanderson's second law of magic (which applies to superpowers too, I would say): Limitations > Powers.

With things like Heroes and the X-Men, there isn't much of a chance that you'll get an interesting power that hasn't been used yet. But by limiting it, you're making it unique and interesting.

As an example, from Sanderson's own work: Steel pushing and Iron pulling from the Mistborn novels.
The basic power here is telekinesis, but is limited like this:
- Works on metals only
- Only pushes and pulls directly from or to the user's centre mass
- The user's mass is pitted against the object being moved; so if the user is lighter than the object being pushed, the user moves, not the object.

Now, with those limitations in place, you have a whole new ability.

Personally I can't agree with this. You shouldn't rely on limitations to make your power interesting but should rely on the character, their personality and how they use the power to make things interesting. Even the basic flying brick power set can be interesting if used in an unusual way.

 

[La Volpe]

Personally I can't agree with this. You shouldn't rely on limitations to make your power interesting but should rely on the character, their personality and how they use the power to make things interesting. Even the basic flying brick power set can be interesting if used in an unusual way.

Agreed, but I'm not saying that having an interesting power precludes all other kinds of writing. I'm merely saying that limiting your power is more interesting that giving it more reign. I.e. Allomancy is more interesting than telekinesis.

And so, isn't an interesting character using an interesting power in an interesting way more interesting than an interesting character using an UNinteresting power in an interesting way? (Sorry for the interesting-ception.)

 

[Saigonnus]

The ability to take away a person's special abilities... Not steal them, they simply stop working for a while.


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[Devor]

Here's a few "silly" ideas to get the creativity going:

The ability to control earthworms to create suitable soil conditions wherever you are.

The ability to change one color into another by touch.

The ability to mimic another person's eye patterns.

The ability to pass through floors and sink to the center of the earth.

The ability to induce shivering, sneezing, or itching in yourself and others.

The ability to force anyone holding a gun to pull the trigger or holding a mouse to click a button.

The ability to telekinetically move anything as light as string or wire.



Really, it's not always about the superpower but about the way it matches with the character who wields it. In Heroes, Nathan Petrelli could fly, but as a politician with his own jet, it didn't mean much. It did mean he could get away from people who were after him, that he was "one of them" and keeping it secret, that he had an excuse not to get involved "What am I supposed to do with flight?", that he was a hypocrite when he used his authority to go after others with powers. The ability to fly made him compelling as a character, and he still had the opportunity to use that power often enough, but it was mostly important for the way it shaped his personality as a character.

So to me, you have a power that needs a character, or a character who needs a power. But there's two parts to it.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Here's a few "silly" ideas to get the creativity going:

The ability to control earthworms to create suitable soil conditions wherever you are.

The ability to change one color into another by touch.

The ability to mimic another person's eye patterns.

The ability to pass through floors and sink to the center of the earth.

The ability to induce shivering, sneezing, or itching in yourself and others.

The ability to force anyone holding a gun to pull the trigger or holding a mouse to click a button.

The ability to telekinetically move anything as light as string or wire.



Really, it's not always about the superpower but about the way it matches with the character who wields it. In Heroes, Nathan Petrelli could fly, but as a politician with his own jet, it didn't mean much. It did mean he could get away from people who were after him, that he was "one of them" and keeping it secret, that he had an excuse not to get involved "What am I supposed to do with flight?", that he was a hypocrite when he used his authority to go after others with powers. The ability to fly made him compelling as a character, and he still had the opportunity to use that power often enough, but it was mostly important for the way it shaped his personality as a character.

So to me, you have a power that needs a character, or a character who needs a power. But there's two parts to it.

"Silly?" Don't be so sure. A couple of those are legitimate powers in my WIP.

Many times I've thought of a "silly" power, then later realized how useful it could be. For example...controlling saliva. Sounds like a humorous power, but it could be pretty useful. You could make your enemy choke on their own saliva or make them drool uncontrollably so they can't talk.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Here are some random powers that popped into my head: Power hear the truth in a lie, power to reverse time, power to see through the eyes of another, ability to bend light (make things invisible, see around corners, etc.), ability to transform gases. Hope this sparks a few ideas.

 

[Holoman]

I had this idea the other day when someone asked something similar, and I thought rather than a unique superpower, it would be interesting for a character to have a superpower that didn't fit well at all with their personality.

For example you have someone that is gentle and their power is only destructive. Or you have someone that wants to be an emperor and rule everyone yet he can only heal wounds. The creativity would be in coming up with ways they could use their powers to get what they want.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I've found that its not about what your powers are--it's about what you do with them. You'll have a hard time finding a power that hasn't been thought of; in fact it's probably impossible. However, what you CAN do is use those powers in unique ways. I've said before that the magic system in my WIP is based around the concept of superpowers, so I've done a lot of meditation on this subject. Here's some ideas for what you can do.

1. Think of interesting ways to use your powers. Typically, we think of magic in terms of its application in combat. Fire? You can burn your enemy! Ice? You can freeze your enemy! However, there's a lot more to a story than just fighting...or I would hope so. Think about how your characters would use their powers in everyday life. Or, think of less obvious ways to use powers. For example, if you could control liquids, you could control people's blood.

2. Think of limitations and weaknesses for your powers. In my opinion, magic without costs is just as boring as protagonists without flaws. I don't just mean limits to what the powers can do. I mean, perhaps a character can only use their power when underwater, at night, while naked...

3. Think of ways that your powers cause problems in the story. This is pretty much all of my WIP. Powers causing problems. If you have the power to read minds, you have the ability to invade others' privacy in the most intimate concievable way. This probably would make you somewhat of an outcast, as people would want to avoid you.

4. Pranks, mishaps, etc...Powers are much more fun when things go wrong. What if you can't control your power? How could you use your power to play pranks on others?

5. Finally, this has been said already, but I'm saying it again. Evil people with "light" powers, or good people with "dark" powers. You'd expect the bad guy to have a scary, dark power, and the good guy to have a helpful, good power...but what if that's not the case? What if it's the other way around? In general, characters that clash with their powers aren't done much.

Hope this helps.

 

[Smajdalf]

Magic powers are cool, when you think of things like using your own soul energy to create an armblade or heal others. But the weakness is that it actually absorbs your life power, so USE WITH CAUTION!